


Selling Your Soul

by posingasme



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Big Brother Dean, Garden of Eden, Impala Feels, Lawyer Sam Winchester, M/M, Mentions of Abner & Gadreel's Friendship, Musician Castiel, Older Characters, Violins, Writer Chuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 14:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4483004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posingasme/pseuds/posingasme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are certain objects which we attach part of our selves to which are near to impossible to give up. It is a sign of true devotion to do so for someone else's happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Selling Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Tumblr prompt which was inspired by a classic Christmas story.

The security guard outside Joshua's pawn shop held the door for the older gentleman. He yawned as he did so, then shuddered to stay alert. He was still trying to redeem himself for allowing a shoplifter to rob Joshua's a few weeks back. The guy had looked like an angel to him. How was he supposed to know he had a bunch of jewelry shoved up under sheep's clothing?

Tommy Gadreel was fed up with this gig. But he had screwed up, and he owed it to Joshua to keep an eye on the place while the guy recovered his losses. He would at least wait till after Christmas to find something else. Abner had suggested they begin a private security business, just the two of them, cut out the middle man, whatever that meant. But Gadreel needed to wait till he felt a little less guilty.

Inside the shop, Joshua looked up from where he was watering his plants. "Well, hello!" he called, in his kind, hoarse voice. He stepped down from the stairs to approach the old gentleman. "Welcome to The Garden. Please tell me you've come to sell that lovely violin."

The gentleman gazed down at the case he had just opened. "Perhaps," he sighed. "I just...I'd like to see what I can get for it."

He reached cautiously, and waited for the man to reluctantly give it up. He could feel the man holding his breath, though little emotion played on his face. "It's beautiful," he said reverently. "I'm Joshua."

Blue eyes looked up, and for a moment, he was sure he had seen a flicker of pain. Then it was gone. "Castiel Malekh. It's...it's quite old."

Joshua nodded. "I can see that. What do you know of its history?"

Castiel smiled in surprise. "I didn't think you'd care about that."

"Of course I do. This isn't a pawn shop, my friend. I am an antiques dealer. And instruments have stories. I'm guessing yours has a good one."

The man was probably in his seventies, and beneath his shock of frosty hair and brows, bright blue eyes gave away his intelligence. Joshua could see the way the man walked and held himself, and wondered if he had been in the military. He looked carefully at the age of the violin, and wondered which military. There was no detectable accent, but Joshua had the feeling Castiel Malekh was from somewhere far away.

Joshua's business was never dull. When he and his partner Chuck had bought it from a short, nebbish man with a constant smirk called Mr. Curtis upon his retirement, he had told them it was all about the stories. No matter what someone is selling, no matter what someone was searching for, there was a story behind it. Chuck had thrilled with the sheer amount of old books the former owner had left behind, and Joshua had not seen him without one of them for weeks. Joshua's own passion was for art and beauty in all its forms. He had cleaned out the dust and clutter, opened the shop up to fresh air, and placed live plants strategically about the place. It was not a pawn shop anymore, though locals insisted on calling it that. It was a home for old things. A place where stories continued instead of died. Mr. Curtis had, perhaps, enjoyed the stories himself, but Chuck delighted in recording them, and Joshua knew the most he could do for an old gentleman like Castiel, who was parting with an old friend, was to listen to what it had meant to him.

Castiel's fingertips brushed over the instrument in Joshua's hands. "She...It was good to me. I don't play it often enough anymore. She should be played. She...It deserves to be played."

Joshua nodded respectfully.

The old man smiled in sadness. "You know...you know, she helped me through some very bad times. But she should be played by someone who is young and who has the energy...I have her paperwork. She needs a new bow...Hers are all..." He hurried to reach for the case, but not before Joshua saw the sparkle of tears in the sharp blue eyes.

Joshua took the authenticities, but he barely looked at them. All he needed to know, he could see in the man's shaking arthritic hands. "You have to know, Mr. Malekh, that she could get a better yield at auction."

Castiel shook his head. "No. No. I don't have time for that. A dear friend of mine...The only friend I've got left in the world, he has just lost his brother, and I have to help him. Neither of us have money. We never needed it, you see. But there is just one possession in the world he loves. It needs...It is the only thing he has left of his brother. It means the world to him, the classic car he drove." Castiel laughed a bit. "My friend can't drive it himself anymore. But I have come to understand that this is where my friend keeps his soul, in that black 1967 Impala. And it needs some work done on it. Now that Dean is gone, he needs that car even more. It doesn't matter that he cannot drive it. It was his home, and it was his brother's pride and joy."

Joshua nodded. "And where do you house your soul, my friend?"

The gentleman smiled sadly. "Perhaps I haven't one any longer. Please. How much?"

The shop owner shrugged and sighed. "I can maybe do two thousand."

The blue eyes narrowed only a touch. "The case is worth more."

"I know. Which is why I don't know why you don't take it to an auction house."

He took in a deep breath, which he breathed out slowly. "Fine. Two thousand is all you can do?"

"Maybe twenty-two hundred."

Castiel's eyes hardened against the tears sparkling in them. "Maestro, forgive me. Yes. Fine. I will find the rest...somewhere."

Joshua watched him for a moment, then put a hand up. "Wait here," he said. He placed the instrument on top of its case carefully. He backed away, into the back of the shop where Chuck was clicking away on his laptop and drinking scotch. "Hey," Joshua said warmly.

Chuck glanced up. "Hey back. You need me out there?"

"No. I'm just...I'm going to take twelve thousand dollars from our savings for a project."

Chuck went back to tapping. "Okay."

Joshua smiled at him in disbelief. "Don't you want to know what for?"

"I trust you."

"Twelve thousand. Not twelve hundred."

Chuck nodded. "Yup."

"It's for a project. An investment."

"Just record it in the books properly."

He began to chuckle. "It might be a very bad investment."

"It might be. And if it is, we won't do that again. It's your money too, Joshua. Spend it however you like."

A sorrow filled the air then, a grieving misery, in the form of music. Joshua shook his head as tears were drawn from him almost immediately.

Chuck looked back at him. "That all?"

"Yeah," he murmured. "Thank you."

His partner smiled. "I've never been sorry when I leave the driving up to you."

"And I've never been sorry you've been along for the ride."

Joshua followed the music back to its source and listened until Castiel noticed him and stopped. "That was lovely."

The old man shook his head. "A maestro of mine once said of me that I was technically perfect and entirely soulless. Perhaps she will find a soul worthy of her one day." He held out the instrument.

But Joshua lifted his hands. "Perhaps," he agreed. "But not today."

Castiel frowned severely. "You've changed your mind?"

"A little. I'd like to renegotiate."

The gentleman seemed to grow annoyed, but his voice remained passive. "You want to give me less than twenty-two hundred for it."

"No. If you want to sell it to me, I will take it for twelve thousand dollars. I think you will agree that is far closer to what it is actually worth."

The head tilted suspiciously. "I should say so."

"But leave it with me tonight, and come back for your money tomorrow. As a deposit, I'll create a contract between us. Tomorrow, you come back either for the cash or for the instrument."

"I don't understand."

"It's simple. A day will give me time to research what it will bring at auction, and come up with the cash. I cannot research without her here to examine, can I? So tomorrow, you come back in with your contract to redeem it for either the money or your violin. This will give you a night to consider as well."

Castiel listened quietly, then nodded his head. "Yes, I suppose...I suppose that is fair."

"I'm glad. My intention is not to cheat you, Mr. Malekh. It is to make a good investment. There is no reason we cannot both benefit here."

The forlorn look the man gave to his beloved instrument was painful to watch. "Thank you," he murmured. When the contract was signed, the man gripped it in his arthritic fingers and stumbled from the shop, weighted down by grief.

Joshua gently lowered the violin into its case. "He'll be back for you, sweetheart. Tomorrow."

***

The next morning, Chuck opened the shop to find an older gentleman already standing outside waiting. "Hello!" he greeted him cheerfully. "Come on in! Sorry I'm a few minutes late. I got caught up in a book over coffee."

As the man entered the shop, Chuck stared in awe at his sheer height. He moved slowly and carefully, but he seemed to take over the entire shop by himself. His smile was kind, but it revealed his exhaustion.

"How can I help?" Chuck asked.

"I heard that you do sales of-of classic cars. That you will handle the sales to collectors."

Chuck shrugged. "In some cases. What do you have? And in what condition?"

The man took a deep breath. "A black 1967 Chevy Impala. And she's in gorgeous condition, aesthetically. Mechanically, she needs some work. I just...I can't afford to keep her up the way she deserves, you know?" Tears sparkled in hazel eyes, but the smile never faltered.

"Okay, well, I'm Chuck Shirley. I deal with most of the collectors looking for things like that. A '67, huh? I know that car. Love that car. How can you stand to part with it?"

"Sam Winchester. And it isn't easy. But a dear friend of mine...Well, his best friend in the world was my brother." Sam's voice began to crack with emotion. "And he's grieving so bad...Dean passed not long ago, and Cas just hasn't been the same. And he's a musician. Pretty celebrated in some circles. And he used to play for Dean when he was...While Dean did his treatments, he would keep him company sometimes. We traded off the job. And Cas isn't much for talking or playing cards, so he used to play for Dean, and...I want to get him a new bow for his violin, to thank him for what he meant to my brother, and help him through this. I...I can't really drive so much anymore. The car...She should be with someone who appreciates her as much as Dean did."

Chuck nodded sadly. "That's generous of you. Your buddy needs a bow? Like for a cello?"

"Violin." Sam's face reddened around his cheekbones. "I don't know if there's a difference. He plays violin. I hear great ones can be thousands of dollars. He deserves the best."

"All right. Well, my partner is the one who deals with things like that, like violin bows. I imagine we don't have one like that, but he can find one for you. You just need to work out details." Chuck turned and called into the back room. "Joshua? Can you help out a guy?"

A second man emerged from behind the door and smiled at Sam sleepily. "Hello! Welcome to The Garden. Did you find something that interests you?"

Chuck patted Joshua's arm gently on his way by. "Let me see if I have any collectors in my contacts who might be interested in purchasing a classic Impala."

When Chuck had disappeared into the back room, Joshua turned to look at Sam with great interest. "An Impala?" he said quietly.

"Uh, yeah." Sam sighed. "It was my brother's. He recently passed, and...A friend of mine helped out a lot toward the end. I don't know what I ever could have done without him. So to thank him, I'd like to get him a really good violin bow. But when I found out how much it costs....I don't need the car. It's just sentiment. But that violin is everything to Cas. His whole soul is embodied in that thing. And I heard him say that he needed a really good bow for it. It has to be that. I don't care what it costs. I gotta get him that. So your partner is going to find out how much he can offer me for the car, and I'd like you to help me find and buy a good violin bow with the money. Can we do that?"

Joshua nodded slowly. "I can certainly help with that. I have just one quick thing to take care of this morning. It will not take two minutes. Please make yourself at home, and I will be right with you."

Sam forced a smile. "Thank you. These plants. They're beautiful."

Joshua gave him a soft, kind smile in return. "Thank you. Some keep pets. For me, tending these little guys makes me very happy. I must have been a gardener in another life. My partner, Chuck, his soul is in his books, those he writes and those he reads. For the most part, he doesn't even care about the rest of the world around him. My soul is distributed over every plant I tend."

A great sadness swept over Sam then. "I know how that feels. This car, silly as it sounds, I think this car has carried my soul and my brother's, and even my father's for a time. Silly to be sentimental about a car. But it was our home for so long. And my father, then my brother, they maintained her, rebuilt her even, over so many years. Every time we had a dollar, it went to fixing her up. I hate that I'm the one giving her away, but...but I guess some collector will be pleased to get her. And she deserves to be driven, even if she's driving away with my soul, you know?"

Joshua sighed. "Give me just two minutes, and we will talk about that bow your friend needs."

Sam's face brightened a bit. "If there's any object that holds Castiel's soul, it's that violin. I love listening to him play. We have been friends for...many decades now. And there will never be a time that I don't drop everything to listen to him play. It's something straight from Heaven, I'm sure of it."

The phone call took less than two minutes, as Joshua had promised. Then he took Chuck aside in the back. "You still trust me, I presume?"

Chuck smiled at him. "How long have we done this? Joshua, you do whatever you think is best. I trust you. I'm going to get back to my writing. If you need me, yell." He laughed, a fondness clear on his face. "Now that would be something. Joshua yelling. Have you ever raised your voice?"

"There never has been a need."

"I'm glad there hasn't." Chuck looked at his partner's face. "That's why I chose you, you know. Your peace. I could have chosen any of them when I retired from being Carver Edlund. I could have brought any of the entourage with me. But celebrity artists don't retire and disappear for no reason. It's because the limelight suffocates creation. If I'm meant to create, I can't have all the noise around me, the constant panic. Joshua, you are the most peaceful and brilliant companion I could have chosen to help me leave that life behind. And you could have left at any time. Why have you stayed?"

Joshua watched him with a calm, content respect. "I didn't leave that life with you because I adored Carver, as the others did. I left to find out who Chuck is underneath."

He laughed. "Chuck was a mess for a long time. Still is now and then."

"Maybe. But he's a beautiful mess, and the greatest artist I ever knew. If I hadn't liked Chuck just as he is, I would have left a long time ago."

Chuck nodded thoughtfully, then looked back at his computer, his hand on his scotch. "Your plants out there look great."

Joshua let the praise soak in. For a man who wrote and created worlds like it burst out of him in prophecy, Chuck was never verbose in his praise. Joshua had come to understand what the little words really meant. "Thank you," he murmured.

When he returned to the front of the shop, Joshua spared a moment to look at his beloved flowers which seemed brighter somehow simply because Chuck had noticed them.

Then he turned toward the door expectantly. Just as he did, it opened, and the older gentleman from yesterday walked in, and straight to the desk. "I'm Castiel," he reminded him quietly. "You just called me about the violin."

Joshua nodded. "Ah. Yes. You came more quickly than I expected. I'm with a guest now. If you'll just look around, this won't take but a moment."

Castiel stepped back and began to wander the shop without looking at anything.

"Sam?" Joshua called, louder than he really needed to. From the corner of his eye, he saw Castiel glance back curiously.

The tall gentleman moved to the desk. "Your partner. Does he think he'll find a buyer for the Impala?"

Joshua could practically feel the blue eyes staring intently from across the shop. "Probably. And I think I may be able to help you find the violin bow you need for your friend. This friend, he must mean a lot to you to give up something that clearly is so important to you."

Sam smiled weakly. "There's nothing in the world that means more to me than Castiel. And he should have what he needs to make his music."

The other man took a step forward, and Joshua glanced at him to find him stricken by the words.

"Isn't this car the most precious thing you have? The way you talked about it..."

Sam shook his head. Emotion painted his face in pain. "It doesn't matter. What he's done for me...what he did for my brother...I'd give my life for Cas." He laughed sadly then. "Maybe that would be easier than giving up the car," he admitted. "But I want him to know how much his music meant to Dean, and how much it..." The emotion was choking him now. "How much it means to me," he finished in a breath. "How much he means to me."

Joshua nodded. "He must be a good friend to warrant that."

The old man nodded again. "Can I tell you something I've never told anyone?"

"If you like."

"I've loved that man since the moment I met him. He could barely speak English at that time, couldn't understand any references Dean and I made, but he was so smart and so strong...An officer in the military back in his home country. And from the moment I heard him play, I just fell. He'll never be more than a friend to me, but neither will anyone else, ever, because no one will ever compare to what he is. I've never married, not in all these years, because no man or woman could ever be Castiel. He ruined my heart with the first note he played on that ancient violin."

Joshua's voice was soft. "And did you ever tell him so?"

This time, the laugh came with a pink blush across pale cheeks. "No. Not much point in that. He is a lovely and loyal friend, and that's more than I truly deserve. A man like him could never love someone like me."

Joshua waited.

The other man stumbled forward to rest his hand on Sam's arm, causing him to startle and turn in surprise.

He gasped in his breath sharply. "Cas!"

The blue eyes were intense as ever, but now they were filled with hope. "Sam, please tell me you meant what you said. What you told him. Is that so?"

Sam had stopped breathing at all now, but he nodded fearfully. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"Sam, I have loved you since your brother introduced us all those years ago. And..." He stood straighter. "And you cannot sell that car! I know what it means to you!"

Joshua smiled to himself and spoke up. "Ah, Mr. Malekh, I have the money for your violin right here. Cash, as I promised you, so you can help your friend get the work done to restore his classic car."

Sam's eyes widened in horror. "Cas," he hissed.

They stared into one another's eyes for a long time, before Joshua broke the silence again. "Or I could propose an alternative to the arrangements for each of you. I will put a down payment on the gorgeous violin, for twelve thousand dollars. We will have a lawyer create a contract that will state that at the end of your life, the violin will be transferred to me, and I will then auction it to a buyer who will care for it as it is meant to be cared for. And since it is worth far more than twelve thousand, and I will clearly make a generous profit at the time of its sale, I will also gift to you a bow worth up to six thousand dollars, to make it eighteen in total. I still benefit a great deal. And the insurance for both the bow and the violin will name me as beneficiary, so that I recoup loss if anything happens to it before I can receive it. Please let me know if this is acceptable. If so, I would make a similar offer for the car. My partner will be transferred ownership at the time of your death, and in the meantime, I'm prepared to give eighteen thousand for it as soon as the contract is signed. Still less than it is likely worth, if it is in the condition promised, but I will give you my word that it will be cared for properly."

The men continued to stare into one another's eyes, then Sam gave a trembling smile. "You know that's more than generous."

"I know it is how I want to conduct the business."

"I'm a retired attorney myself. Would you feel all right about me drafting the papers?"

"Certainly."

"Then yes." Sam's breath hitched in his throat. "My god, yes."

Castiel simply began to weep.

Chuck looked up as Joshua entered the back much later. "Your project coming along as you wanted?"

"Yes. We spent thirty-six thousand dollars, and I have no items to show you for it."

The creator nodded. "Okay. Let me know how it goes."

Joshua smiled and returned to water his beloved plants.


End file.
